Episode 1
It is a turbulent time within the Solician Cluster, with trade routes between Solstice and Capricorn becoming increasingly dangerous. Piracy is rife throughout the labyrinthine collection of islands that lie between the two countries, not to mention the smuggling operations and black market trade of relics from an ancient civilisation. But all that is about to change...
Rumours of conspiracy and regicide have been whispered throughout the Kingdom of Solstice since King Constantine came to power. The Church of the Unseen Gods fear upheaval, the various Guilds face government control, and the new King's pledge to stamp out organised crime and piracy has left the Thieves Guild (including the nautical branch) sweating under the collar. For the most part nothing has changed, but a general sense that something nasty is about to happen lingers in the atmosphere.
Somewhere in the middle of this all is Oswyn, a self appointed art thief and obtainer of rare antiquities who has turned his back on an aristocratic life. He's relatively unconcerned about the surrounding events, because he is on a mission. A year ago one of his many exclusive clientèle approached him with an old manuscript hinting at the location of a magnificent and potentially lucrative idol, carved by a mysterious and extinct race and hidden away on an uncharted island.
Now Oswyn is nearing the end of his journey, having finally located the island where the artefact lies. But as all casual observers of the universe will know, things aren't going to go quite according to plan...
(Work-in-progress)
What funky features do you have lined up?
* Context-sensitive verb menu. Inspired by Lure Of The Temptress, interactivity takes place in the game through a pop-up menu that will contain verbs relative to what you can do with an object, person or inventory item. It takes away the staleness of only being able to "look", "interact" and "speak", but also doesn't clutter things up with useless methods of interaction.
* A dynamic soundtrack that works not unlike Lucasarts' fabled iMuse system. It's not as elegant as iMuse of course due to not having any sequencer built into AGS, but all the important functionality is there to bring the fully orchestrated score to life!
* All the other standard gubbins you'd expect from an adventure game!
Oh no, not another Episodic game!
Yes yes, I know, but the decision to do a series of games rather than a huge one means that I can happily beaver away at nice and easy-to-handle self contained episodes at my own leisure, and you'll occasionally get to play them! Quality over quantity is what I'm shooting for, I've had to learn the lesson of planning overly ambitious games the hard way!
So how long will episode one be?
I'm hoping for somewhere in the region of 4-6 hours, but it'll probably turn out much shorter. I'm more interested in creating an immersive world that you want to spend time exploring and mucking about around in, rather than make a long-winded chore of a game.
Who is helping you to achieve this grand vision?
I've managed to rope various friends into lending me their talents, and the quality of the final game will be in no short part due to their awesomeness. Scotch is the brain behind the gorgeous backgrounds, and keeps me motivated when I see the random scrawlings and notes I send him turned into art that captures the atmosphere I'm going for perfectly. Constantly peering over my shoulder offering suggestions, better dialogue and generally keeping things in check is the ever-lovely Becky, and Helm has supplied the initial character sketches and prototype art. Much love goes to them!
When do you plan to have this finished?
Summer 2008 so as not to make any unrealistic promises, but due to real life commitments of the people assisting me in making this (not to mention my own) it could turn up at any point next year. Even though we're now quite far in there's still a lot left to do, and it won't be released until it's polished up nicely!
It is a turbulent time within the Solician Cluster, with trade routes between Solstice and Capricorn becoming increasingly dangerous. Piracy is rife throughout the labyrinthine collection of islands that lie between the two countries, not to mention the smuggling operations and black market trade of relics from an ancient civilisation. But all that is about to change...
Rumours of conspiracy and regicide have been whispered throughout the Kingdom of Solstice since King Constantine came to power. The Church of the Unseen Gods fear upheaval, the various Guilds face government control, and the new King's pledge to stamp out organised crime and piracy has left the Thieves Guild (including the nautical branch) sweating under the collar. For the most part nothing has changed, but a general sense that something nasty is about to happen lingers in the atmosphere.
Somewhere in the middle of this all is Oswyn, a self appointed art thief and obtainer of rare antiquities who has turned his back on an aristocratic life. He's relatively unconcerned about the surrounding events, because he is on a mission. A year ago one of his many exclusive clientèle approached him with an old manuscript hinting at the location of a magnificent and potentially lucrative idol, carved by a mysterious and extinct race and hidden away on an uncharted island.
Now Oswyn is nearing the end of his journey, having finally located the island where the artefact lies. But as all casual observers of the universe will know, things aren't going to go quite according to plan...
(Work-in-progress)
What funky features do you have lined up?
* Context-sensitive verb menu. Inspired by Lure Of The Temptress, interactivity takes place in the game through a pop-up menu that will contain verbs relative to what you can do with an object, person or inventory item. It takes away the staleness of only being able to "look", "interact" and "speak", but also doesn't clutter things up with useless methods of interaction.
* A dynamic soundtrack that works not unlike Lucasarts' fabled iMuse system. It's not as elegant as iMuse of course due to not having any sequencer built into AGS, but all the important functionality is there to bring the fully orchestrated score to life!
* All the other standard gubbins you'd expect from an adventure game!
Oh no, not another Episodic game!
Yes yes, I know, but the decision to do a series of games rather than a huge one means that I can happily beaver away at nice and easy-to-handle self contained episodes at my own leisure, and you'll occasionally get to play them! Quality over quantity is what I'm shooting for, I've had to learn the lesson of planning overly ambitious games the hard way!
So how long will episode one be?
I'm hoping for somewhere in the region of 4-6 hours, but it'll probably turn out much shorter. I'm more interested in creating an immersive world that you want to spend time exploring and mucking about around in, rather than make a long-winded chore of a game.
Who is helping you to achieve this grand vision?
I've managed to rope various friends into lending me their talents, and the quality of the final game will be in no short part due to their awesomeness. Scotch is the brain behind the gorgeous backgrounds, and keeps me motivated when I see the random scrawlings and notes I send him turned into art that captures the atmosphere I'm going for perfectly. Constantly peering over my shoulder offering suggestions, better dialogue and generally keeping things in check is the ever-lovely Becky, and Helm has supplied the initial character sketches and prototype art. Much love goes to them!
When do you plan to have this finished?
Summer 2008 so as not to make any unrealistic promises, but due to real life commitments of the people assisting me in making this (not to mention my own) it could turn up at any point next year. Even though we're now quite far in there's still a lot left to do, and it won't be released until it's polished up nicely!
